HRA: Reading HP
by JFox101
Summary: When Harry's Rio family is transported toa strange room, they are requested by a letter from Harry in the future to read about his Hogwarts years. pairings are canon. Changed from HRA: The Philosopher's Stone.
1. Chapter 0: Leaving Rio

**Chapter Zero: The Beginning**

POP!

Linda appeared in a strange room with 2 bedrooms, bathrooms, and trees all around.

Multiple more pops where heard and Blu, Jewel, their children, a toucan she didn't know but knew Blu and Jewel where friends with, and a canary and red headed Cardinal. Tulio and Fernando also appeared in the room with them.

"Uh, what's going on?" Blu SPOKE!

"Blu? How can I understand you?" Linda asked her best friend.

FLASH! A piece of parchment floated down to a table with seven books and landed on the books.

"Should we touch it?" Tulio asked cautiously as the parchment was folded and red as if it where hot.

The letter opened up in the shape of a mouth. And Harry's voice came out. But he sounded older than they last saw him. Come to think of it...where is Harry? Linda looked around for her ward but the was no where to be seen.

"_Hello everyone."_ Harry started through the parchment. _"I know your all confused as to why your here so I'll get right to the point. This letter and these books are from ten years in the future."_

"Holy Mother-." Rafael started.

"_Yes, the future. These books are about my Hogwarts years. I know you all know I've edited what I have told you about my school years and I wanted you all to know the truth. Right now, I had placed a Memory Charm on you all and erased all memory of my existence from your lives._"

There was a cry of outrage. Particularly from Jewel. She glared at the letter from her son in the future.

"_Mum."_ Harry's letter turned to Jewel. _"I was concerned about all of you. Your safety was far more important than mine as I was traveling all over England searching for dark objects known as Horcruxes."_

Pedro snorted. Weird name. He thought.

"_Right now, Ron, Hermione and I should be breaking into the Ministry if I remember right,"_

"No way." Fernando said in disbelief. "I didn't think he had it in him." He grinned.

"_but please, read this before you start the books."_ Another few pieces of Parchment appeared in Linda's hands. _"It explains what happened on August 1__st__ 1997. The day I erased myself from your memories." The letter then tore itself up and became normal pieces of parchment. _

"I guess I'll Read." Linda said as she picked up the pieces of paper. **"Leaving Rio."** She read.

**Harry tied his rucksack tight. Having packed all of his essentials, the Marauders Map, his Firebolt, several spell books and potion ingredients. And a picture of his family to remind himself of why he was doing what he was about to do. **

"But what is he doing?" Nico asked as the small canary listened with concern.

"**Hey Harry!" Fernando called from downstairs. "The Cup is on!" **

"**Coming!" Harry shouted. **

"This must have been when he put the charm on us." Rafael said sadly. He had thought the kid seemed a little down that morning.

**Every one of their bird friends, except for Rafael's kids, where there. Which was perfect for what Harry needed to do to keep them safe. He heaved his Firebolt over his shoulder and walked downstairs. The rucksack dangling on its end. Everyone's eyes where glued to the TV as one of Rio's players was about to score. **

**He raised his wand. Tears in his eyes. As he said the one word that would keep them safe for as long as possible. "Obliviate." His wand tip glowed and everyone's eyes unfocused slightly as every possible memory of him was erased from their minds. **

"What if he had been killed?" Tulio asked. "Would the charm be lifted?"

A parchment piece fell from the table and Fernando caught it and read it aloud. "The Charm would have stayed. It would have been as if I never existed in your lives. It was the hardest thing I have ever done."

**A picture of him, his mother, father, and siblings on the mantle had his image disappear as did any other photos with him in them. Including home movies. **

Jewel had a sad look about her. She couldn't imagine life without her human son.

Blu beamed at the thought that Harry thought of him as a dad.

**With that done, he left their home and walked down the street. Turning on the spot with a small POP! And Apparated away from his first true home. Tears fell to the ground as though an invisible pair of eyes was crying. **

"Wow. Harry never cries." Linda said sadly. "This must have really shaken him. That's the end."

Suddenly, another note appeared and floated down. Tulio caught it and red it aloud. "You may now begin the first book. _Harry Potter, and the Philosopher's Stone_." Fernando grabbed the book that appeared on the table in the middle of the room as the pages detailing Harry's leaving Rio disappeared.

"**Chapter 1,"** The eighteen year old began, **"The Boy Who Lived."**

**To Be Continued...**

**I have NO idea when the soccer world cup is held so I changed it to July 31st. **

**I will also be uploading "Hogwart's Reads Harry's Rio Adventure" as a companion piece to HRA. **

**Hope you guys enjoy.**

**Review Review Review!**

**Dean the Cuddly Fox **


	2. Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived

**Harry's Rio Adventure: The Philosopher's Stone**

**Chapter 1: The Boy Who Lived**

**Ten year old Harry James Potter finally closed his schoolwork for the day and looked to his legal guardian, Linda. "Can I go fly now?" He asked the older woman with puppy eyes. He'd been too busy to fly with his mom and dad and new siblings lately and was eager to spread his wings. **

"Yeah, that week was busy for him because he'd been sick with chickenpox." Linda remembered.

"What's chickenpox?" Rafael asked.

"Its when humans break out in sores that make them extremely itchy for a few days to a week." Tulio explained.

"Its was torture." Fernando shuddered. Having had it the week before Harry got it. "And you can't scratch them because they might get infected." He added.

"**Alright, go." Linda said with a smile as the ten year old animagus transformed into the Spix Macaw with a lightning streak in his head feathers. He flew to the window and took off into the afternoon sky. **

"Its still amazing watching him do that." Linda said fondly.

**Ever since it was revealed he was actually human and not a bird, Linda had become his legal guardian. Especially since she had met his human aunt and uncle and saw how much they despised him at the court meeting. Harry was home schooled. Fernando went to public school in the city. He was almost as tall as Blu now. And his tail feathers where growing longer. **

"**Mom?" Harry called out as he flew to the tree where Jewel, Blu and their chicks nested. His brothers and sister cheeped and chirped excitedly coming after him. **

"**Wow, you guys are getting big fast." Harry said in encouragement after they toppled him into the nest in their excitement. **

"**Did you finish your homework?" He heard his mom ask as she and Blu fly onto the ledge.**

Linda raised an amused eyebrow at Jewel.

"Well I AM his mother aren't I?" Jewel defended herself.

"**Yes mom." Harry said as he rolled his eyes. **

"**All of it?" She asked sternly giving him the "Mother Glare." **

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Eva demanded glaring at her husband who chuckled nervously.

"Mom's always have this glare that makes you answer them truthfully." Fernando said in amusement at the toucan's predicament. Harry had told them about their feathered friends personality's before but being able to interact with them this way was just amazing.

"**Yes ma'am." Harry said rolling his eyes again. "Linda wouldn't have let me loose if I hadn't." He turned to the younger birds. "So are you guys ready to fly?" He asked the little chicks. **

"**Race race race!" They all repeated excitedly. **

"They do love racing." Blu said fondly about his still growing chicks.

"**Ok." Harry said. "You wanna race? Let's go!" He spread his blue feathered wings and soared gracefully into the sky with the Mini Macaws not too far behind. He sped up a and soon rounded a bend that Linda and Tulio had set up in the forest course outside their home to help teach newborn birds how to fly. He saw Rafael and Eva relaxing in a patch of sun not too far away and decided to say hi to his honorary uncle. I got time. Harry thought as he looked back and saw the 3 chicks not even near the bend yet. **

"We where quite slow back then." Isabella, Blu and Jewel's only daughter smiled at the memory of this particular race.

"**Another race Chico?" Rafael asked the young Macaw. **

"**Yeah." Harry replied. "They love to race. Even though they never win." He gave the older toucan a cheeky grin. **

Tulio and Linda smiled. If only he interacted this well with humans.

Harry's brothers and sister mock glared at the book.

"**Anything new?" **

"**Not really." Harry said watching his siblings just round the bend. **

"**Did you finish your homework?" Eva asked as the older female tried to handle 3 baby toucans crawling all over her. **

"You too?" Linda asked the older female toucan who ruffled her feathers indignantly.

"I'm his aunt." She said stiffly.

"**Yes aunty." Harry rolled his eyes. How many times was he going to be asked that question today? "Gotta go." He said jumping from the branch and flying off with a flap of his wings as 3 younger Macaw's flew past the toucans. **

"You guys where that slow?" Fernando teased Blu's kids in amusement.

He yelped as he suddenly felt a electric shock from no where.

"Shocking Hex." Harry's voice said from above and they looked up to see a swirling vortex like portal. "Care to try that again?"

"I'll be good."

"**Can't talk now, racing." Harry said to Nico and Pedro as he flew past the canary and cardinal with the 3 Mini Macaws right behind him. **

"Harry don't be rude." Jewel said to the book.

**They flew around the final bend to the finish line which was a cliff overlooking the beach where Blu had tried to learn to fly. Harry narrowed his eyes as the Mini's where literally right behind him. He crossed it first. And dropped off the edge if the cliff. **

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Jewel shouted to the vortex and everyone heard a "Meep."

"Just trying to impress them mum." Harry's voice said through the vortex.

**His brothers and sister gasped and looked down trying to find him. He hurled himself upward into the sky and they cheered him on. **

The adult birds smiled. Younger birds where always impressed when they flew high into the sky.

**Ahh, the joys of being young. Harry thought as they started round two. Going back to the nest, back to their parents. **

"And I won every single time." Harry's voice said before he yelped.

"Don't be arrogant." Came a female voice.

"Yes dear." Harry said to the female voice.

**Unknown to Harry, every Halloween night since he was one, and entire hidden society of witches and wizards all around the world raised their glasses. And said, "To Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived." **

"Boy Who Lived?" Blu and Jewel asked in confusion. Nico and Pedro looked away, they knew what it meant as they had snuck into Harry's trunk when he went to school for his fourth year. The year he started acting different.

"All will be explained." Harry's voice said down to them. "And you all will have a visitor in five, four, three, two, one..."

And a small black haired boy appeared in sweat pants and a white t-shirt. He looked to be about five or six years old.

"Baby?" Jewel asked unsure of whether it was really him.

"Momma?" Harry asked timidly. "Where am I?" Why do you look older?"

**To Be Continued...**

**How about that? Surprise Surprise. Harry is five and was given the clothes magically so he wouldn't be naked. **

**He didn't tell Blu or Jewel or anyone about his fame in the Wizarding World but as said, Nico and Pedro snuck into his trunk to see his school in his fourth year. **

**Review Review Review!**

**Dean the Cuddly Fox**


	3. Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass

**After a round of explanations to the terrified child, Harry transformed back into his Macaw form and flew over to his mom and Blu. **

"**Chapter 2: The Vanishing Glass." **Fernando read as Harry snuggled in between Jewel and Blu in his bird form.

**Harry had been telling the mini Macaws and youngest toucans a scary story by moonlight at a sleepover they where having. **

"Oh, that was fun." Blu said eagerly.

"What did you do? Harry only told us you where teaching them about mimcing sounds." Linda said.

"You'll see." Blu said with a smirk in his voice.

"**The alarm clock beeped and the colonel looked over." Harry said with a scary tone in his voice as the young birds shook in fear. "Ten a.m.?" He asked. "But it's still dark out." He grinned evilly. "Then the door opened and Jerri was standing there. **

"**Don't be afraid, its only me." She said." Harry imitated her voice. **

"**Where's the sun?" The colonel asked." Harry said as the children huddled together in fear. He had been telling them a Tales From the Crypt story. **

"Ooooo." Tulio shivered. "I remember this one from the magazine in my youth. But I thought it was in "The Vault of Horror."

"The TV show used stories from all 3 publications." Linda explained.

"**In Alaska. The sun isn't coming up for another two months." Jerri said as she opened the door all the way and revealed the vampires." Harry grinned as the chicks screamed in terror. **

"**No." The colonel said."Noooo." As the vampires descended upon him and feasted on his blood." **

"**Enjoy the story kiddies?" Harry asked the shaking birds. "Sweet nightmares." He cackled just like the crypt keeper as he flew out of the nest.**

"Remind me to thank Nigel for that one." _Harry_ from the vortex called down to the room.

"**How'd it go?" Blu asked as his son landed. **

"**Perfect. Their scared to death. "Literally." He cackled mimicing the crypt keeper again. **

"John Kassir was perfect as the Crypt Keeper." Linda smiled evilly.

"**But seriously, their terrified." **

"**Perfect." Blu smiled. **

"**What are you going to do?" Jewel asked. **

"**Teach the mini's about mimicing sounds." Harry smiled at his mother. **

"**Watch and learn." Blu smiled to his mate. **

**The young birds couldn't sleep. Then suddenly, they heard a baby crying. The same sound Harry had described in the story. And then the screeching. They screamed in fear and backed up tot he back of the hole in the tree. Then they heard the sounds behind them. **

"**Vampires!" They shouted in terror and ran to the hole before Harry and Blu flew into the nest. **

"**And that kiddies." Harry said mimicing the Crypt Keeper. "Is how you mimic sounds." He said in his normal voice. **

**The chicks all sighed in relief then glared at the two older birds. **

**Over the next few weeks odd things began to happen around Harry. Once when he couldn't find a pen he was using Linda found it floating in the kitchen just above the table. On another occasion he somehow turned Tulio's hair green without using dye.**

"I did all that?" Harry asked in amazement.

"That was embarrasing that was." Tulio sighed. Remembering the laughs at the aviary that day.

**He even made a drink he wanted from the refrigerator come to him while they where all at the table eating. **

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. Harry was on his way to a zoo in the States with Fernando's class because Linda and Tulio where chaperoning and they couldn't find a sitter. Not even among their friends at the aviary who could take him. Animals Harry had never seen before, like trumpeting Elephants, growling Tigers and roaring lions where on display. It was the most amazing thing Harry had ever seen. Though he was terribly saddened when they saw the bird house. **

Even now Harry looked saddened.

**But, as they had been bred in captivity like many of the animals at the San Diego Zoo he didn't feel too bad. They would most likely die if they where released into the wild. **

**Harry should have known it was too good to last. There was a reason he was home schooled. **

"**Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite Bird Nerd." A young male voice said behind Harry as he waved to Nigel who winked back at him as he dive bombed the crowd watching the bird show with a shriek and fly back to the trainers outstretched arm landing on the leather gloved arm. **

Blu burst out in laughter.

"What's so funny Blu?" Linda asked.

"B-back in Minnesota there was this Canadian Goose that called me her favorite "Nerd Bird."

"Who's Nigel?" Harry asked innocently.

"He used to be a bad guy." Jewel said to her son as he cuddled next to her folded wing. "He's good now."

"**Nigel here is a Cockatoo." The trainer said to the crowd as said bird puffed out his chest in pride. **

:Sounds like Nigel's enjoying being back in show business." Nico said with a smile.

"**What do you want Marcel?" Harry asked. **

"**Can't I just come say hi to my favorite nerd?" **

"**No." Harry said dryly. It was because of Marcel and his "Bodyguards" harassment that he had begged Linda to home school him. **

Blu and Jewel glared at the book.

"**See you later at the reptile house Bird Boy." Joseph said as they all shoved past him to get seats in the front row. Nigel, having seen this little encoutner, pooped on their heads in revenge. **

Everyone chuckled at Nigel's behavior.

"Wait a minute." Tulio said stroking his chin. "Isn't this when?"

"The reptile house incident." Linda said in agreement.

"What happened?" Pedro asked as the Cardinal fluttered over.

"You'll see." Fernando grinned. That was hilarious seeing the bullies at his school running like little girls from a boa constrictor.

**Later in the reptile house Harry stayed behind as he watched a boa constrictor lay on a log lazily in the afternoon sun. **

"**Sorry about them." Harry said to the boa constrictor. "They don't understand what its like." He said remembering his short time with the Dursleys. "Lying there day after day. Watching people press their ugly faces in on you." **

Fernando, Tulio and Linda narrowed their eyes. Add one more reason to our Why We Hate The Dursley's list. They all thought.

**The snake perked up. **

"Que?" Tulio questioned.

"The snake perked up." Fernando repeated.

"You can speak to snakes?" Blu asked his son in confusion.

"Is that bad? Harry asked."Sometimes I can hear them hissing words to each other.

"Harry, you know its impolite to eavesdrop." Jewel scolded.

"Sorry momma." Harry said.

"Can't you guys?" Linda asked the birds. "I mean, you talk to other animals right?"

"No one can speak to snakes. They have their own separate language." Rafael explained.

**Harry was shocked. He could never talk to snakes before. "Can you hear me?" He asked. The snake nodded his head vigorously. "Its just, I've never talked to a snake before. Do you...I mean...do you talk to people often?" He asked. **

**The snake shook its head no. **

"Wow." Harry said in amazement. He was actually talking to a snake.

"**Hey everyone! Look at this snake!" Marcel said running up to the glass. "Out of the way nerd." He said shoving him hard down to the cement floor. **

The birds squawked in anger and the humans let out sounds of anger.

**It was then that the most astonishing thing happened. The glass mysteriously vanished. Marcel and his two goons jumped back in horror as the boa constrictor slid onto the floor.**

"Cool!" Harry said eagerly.

"Wow." Blu said.

"Harry did that?" Nico asked. "Wow."

"He must have." Tulio said. "It wouldn't be mentioned otherwise.

"**Thankssssss." The large snake hissed to Harry. **

"Polite snake."

"They usually are." Harry said gathering from his eavesdropping on reptilian conversations.

"**Anytime." Harry said in slight confusion and amusement. **

"**Snake!" Someone shouted and several people screamed as it slithered away and teased a few people by playfully snapping at their heels, mainly Marcel and his two bodyguards. **

"Go snake man!" Pedro cheered.

**The trip was cut short and they where back in Rio the next evening. Fernando was disappointed because he didn't get to see the snake bite at Marcel but laughed when Harry told him about Nigel pooing on their heads. Aside from the infamous "Snake Escape" as it was now dubbed at the local public elementary school, they both had a good time. And that was all they could ever have hoped for. **

"The next chapter is called "The Letters From No One." Tulio read as he accepted the book from Fernando.

**To Be Continued...**

**I liked the movie snake scene better than the book one so I used it as a model. Hope you all enjoyed my version of The Vanishing Glass. **

**Review Review Review!**

**Dean the Cuddly Fox**


	4. Chapter 3: Letters From No One

**Chapter 3: The Letters From No One**

**Another Carnival had come and gone and it was summer. The streets where alive with tourists, and tourists pets. Harry yawned as he woke up from another long night of blinding flashes of bright green light. **

"He still has those?" Jewel asked.

"He's had them before?" Tulio asked Jewel.

"I'd wake up to find him shuddering next to me." Jewel said.

"They've changed now." _Harry_ said in a shuddering voice from the vortex above.

Harry looked up curiously. What happened to him in the future?

**His open window, had an envelope on the window sill. Curious, Harry walked over to the envelope and picked it up. It was very heavy. Made of parchment and not plain paper. **

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**The Second Floor**_

_**The Second Smallest Bedroom**_

_**Blu Bird Sanctuary**_

_**Rio de Janeiro**_

_**Brazil. **_

"Very precise." Blu said in shock.

**He turned over the envelope and saw its wax seal. A Lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H. **

**Deciding it was one of Fernando's jokes he threw it in the trashcan next to his bedside table and forgot about it. **

"I wouldn't joke like that, not my taste." Fernando said.

**After all, outside of Rio he knew no one except the Dursleys and they hadn't spoken to each other since he was seven.**

"Good." All the birds said.

**Not that he would want to anyway. It was just an ordinary letter right? Noting bad could come from ignoring it. **

**How very wrong he was. **

"What a week." Linda sighed.

"What happened?" Blu asked his best friend.

"You'll see."

**Over the next week, no less than a fifty letters for Harry had come to their home. Things where getting out of hand. Their very confused Security Guard had brought them two dozen letters for Harry somehow crunched up inside two dozen eggs he had apparently, or so he had told them, brought from a friend who raises chickens. **

"Lots of people raise chickens here in Rio." Tulio said to the skeptical looks from the birds. "It was believable."

"**Who wants to talk to you so badly?" Fernando asked curiously to his "little brother."**

"**Dunno." Harry shrugged. He was so confused. Who was writing to him? How in the world did those letters get inside the eggs?**

"Magic lil' man." Nico teased the younger bird who hid in his mother's wing in embarrassment.

**Who did want to talk to him so badly? **

"Obviously Hogwarts." Fernando said. It was rather alarming how badly the school wanted him.

**But nothing too serious happened until his eleventh birthday. When a total stranger knocked on their door. **

"Peh, more like broke it down." Fernando smirked.

"What?" Blu asked in confusion.

"Hagrid." Linda said remembering the friendly half giant.

**BOOM**

Everyone jumped and Linda glared at her husband.

"Its in all capitals." He said with a amirk.

**BOOM**

**Harry jumped and ran downstairs as did Tulio, Linda and Fernando. Someone was outside. Knocking to come in.**

"I'll read next." Linda said as she took the book. "Chapter 4: The Keeper of the Keys."

**To Be Continued...**

**I know it was short, but it was kind of hard to keep Harry from reading his letters. The next chapter will be longer. Hope you guys enjoy!**

**Review Review Review!**

**Dean the Cuddly Fox**


	5. PS: The Mirror of Erised

**A/N: Hi everyone, I have decided to instead of having the Rio characters read ALL the HP books, have them read KEY chapters of each book. From PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OoP, and HBP before reading Deathly Hallows in its entirety. As such I am changing this fics name to HRA: Reading Harry Potter**

Before Linda could begin the Vortex sent down another letter.

"_Hello everyone, we from the future hqave made a unanimous vote to have you only read KEY chapters from the books until the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Please continue with chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. _

_Love,_

_Harry and all the newest additions to the Potter Family. _

_James Sirius Potter_

_Lily Jewel Potter_

Jewel smiled at the girl's middle name. He named his daughter's middle name after her.

_Albus Severus Potter_

_And Ginevra Potter nee Weasley_

"Way to go Lil' Man!" Nico shouted up to the vortexAnd everyone heard older Harry's voice chuckle at Nico's antics.

Young Harry blushed. He had kids in the future? Does this mean he gets married?

"**Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised."** Linda read.

**Christmas was coming. One morning in mid-December, Hogwarts woke to find itself covered in several feet of ****snow. "Brrr, I'm okay, I'm just not used to this weather." Harry said to Ron and Hermione as he usually shivered every few minutes. Growing up with tropical weather year round did that to a person. The lake froze solid and the Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban. **

"Nice." Fernando smiled. He liked these twins already even though he hadn't met them in person yet.

**The few owls that managed to battle their way through the stormy sky to deliver mail had to be nursed back to health by Hagrid before they could fly off again. No one could wait for the holidays to start. **

"Its like that everywhere." Linda smiled. She remembered eagerly waiting for the holidays just after Thanksgiving when she was a little girl and she and Blu would help decorate the tree.

**While the Gryffindor common room and the Great Hall had roaring fires, the drafty corridors had become icy and a bitter wind rattled the windows in the classrooms. Worst of all were Professor Snape's classes down in the dungeons, where their breath rose in a mist before them and they kept as close as possible to their hot cauldrons.**

"They could catch pneumonia!" Linda protested.

"Some chemicals need to be kept at constant temperatures." Tulio pointed out. "Perhaps it is the same with Potions."

**"I do feel so sorry," said Draco Malfoy, one Potions class, "for all those people who have to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas because they're not wanted at home."**

"Asshole." Fernando said.

**He was looking over at Harry as he ****spoke. Crabbe and Goyle chuckled. Harry, who was measuring out powdered spine of lionfish, ignored them. And besides, he was wanted at home, he just wanted to stay to see what Hogwarts was like at Christmas time. Malfoy had been even more unpleasant than usual since the Quidditch match. **

"What's Quidditch?" Blu asked. "Is that even a real word?"

A small note zipped down. _"Quidditch is the most popular sport in the Wizarding World. Four balls, seven players on each team. The Quaffle, the largest of the balls, is handled by the 3 Chasers who try to throw the Quaffle into the opposing team's goal posts. The Keeper tries to stop the Chasers from Scoring. The two Bludgers fly around trying to injure the players and are hit at opposing players by each teams two Beaters. The Seeker, which is Harry's position, tries to find the Golden Snitch. The Seeker who catches the Snitch earns 150 points for his or her team. The game only ends when the Snitch is caught." _

"Sounds a little like Football." Tulio said thinking about the Keepers.

"And Soccer." Fernando added.

"And Basketball combined." Linda agreed.

**Disgusted that the Slytherins had lost, he had tried to get everyone laughing at how a wide-mouthed tree frog would be replacing Harry as Seeker next. **

"That makes no sense."

**Then he'd realized that nobody found this funny,**

"In your face Ferret Boy." Fernando smiled.

**because they were all so impressed at the way Harry had managed to stay on his bucking broomstick. So Malfoy, jealous and angry, had gone back to taunting Harry about having no proper family.**

"He does have a proper family Ferret Boy." Pedro growled. "Us."

**It was true that Harry wasn't going back to Rio for Christmas. Professor McGonagall had come around the week before, making a list of students who would be staying for the holidays, and Harry had signed up at once. He didn't feel sorry for himself at all; this would probably be the best Christmas he'd ever had. **

"Hey." Tulio said indignantly. He thought they had pretty good Christmases.

Zip, _"I meant my first Christmas in the Magical World." _Fernando read. _"Sorry." _

**Ron and his brothers were staying, too, because Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were going to Romania to visit Charlie.**

**When they left the dungeons at the end of Potions, they found a large fir tree blocking the corridor ahead. Two enormous feet sticking out at the bottom and a loud puffing sound told them that Hagrid was behind it.**

**"Hi, Hagrid, want any help?" Ron asked, sticking his head through the branches.**

**"Nah, I'm all right, thanks, Ron."**

**"Would you mind moving out of the way?" came Malfoy's cold drawl from behind them. "Are you trying to earn some extra money, Weasley? Hoping to be gamekeeper yourself when you leave Hogwarts, I suppose — that hut of Hagrid's must seem like a palace compared to what your family's used to."**

"Someone needs a lesson in humility." Tulio glared at the book.

**Ron dived at Malfoy just as Snape came up the stairs.**

**"WEASLEY!" **

"Asshole."

"Fernando, language." Linda scolded.

**Ron let go of the front of Malfoy's robes.**

**"He was provoked, Professor Snape," said Hagrid, sticking his huge hairy face out from behind the tree. "Malfoy was insultin' his family."**

**"Be that as it may, fighting is against Hogwarts rules, Hagrid," said Snape silkily. "Five points from Gryffindor, Weasley, and be grateful it isn't more. Move along, all of you."**

"To be fair he didn't actually see that part and he knows about Harry and Ron's friendship with Hagrid and he could be labeled as a biased source." Blu pointed out.

**Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle pushed roughly past the tree, scattering needles everywhere and smirking.**

"Ooo let me go kick him. Just once." Fernando pleaded with his adopted parents.

**"I'll get him," said Ron, grinding his teeth at Malfoy's back, "one of these days, I'll get him —"**

**"I hate them both," said Harry, "Malfoy and Snape."**

"Wait a minute, why is Harry's kid named after him then?" Tulio asked. "I remember him mentioning the name Severus Snape once."

"_Circumstances change." _Read Tulio from the note that appeared.

**"Come on, cheer up, it's nearly Christmas," said Hagrid. "Tell yeh what, come with me an' see the Great Hall, looks a treat."**

**So the three of them followed Hagrid and his tree off to the Great Hall, where Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were busy with the Christmas decorations.**

**"Ah, Hagrid, the last tree — put it in the far corner, would you?"**

**The hall looked spectacular. Festoons of holly and mistletoe hung all around the walls, and no less than twelve towering Christmas trees stood around the room, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles.**

"It is." Linda said remembering the pictures Harry had sent her for Christmas that year. It was a great shock to all of them when the pictures started moving. Apparently wizards and witches developed their photographs in a special potion that made them move.

**"How many days you got left until yer holidays?" Hagrid asked.**

**"Just one," said Hermione. "And that reminds me — Harry, Ron, we've got half an hour before lunch, we should be in the library."**

**"Oh yeah, you're right," said Ron, tearing his eyes away from Professor Flitwick, who had golden bubbles blossoming out of his wand and was trailing them over the branches of the new tree.**

"Wow." Jewel said. It sounded amazing.

"Cool." Young Harry said eagerly.

**"The library?" said Hagrid, following them out of the hall. "Just before the holidays? Bit keen, aren't yeh?"**

**"Oh, we're not working," Harry told him brightly. "Ever since you mentioned Nicolas Flamel we've been trying to find out who he is."**

"Nicholas Flamel? What's he got to do with anything?" Linda asked. "He lived over six hundred years ago."

**"You what?" Hagrid looked shocked. "Listen here — I've told yeh — drop it. It's nothin' to you what that dog's guardin'."**

"What dog?" Eva asked. She didn't particularly like dogs. Except for Louiz because he and her husband where good friends.

"_Fluffy was a Cerberus." _Fernando read with wide eyes. "A Cerberus? Seriously?"

"What was a three headed monster dog going in a school full of children?" Linda asked in fear.

_As Hagrid said, Guardin' somethin'. Heeheehee But we're not telling! _

"Mean." Pedro folded his wings across his chest.

**"We just want to know who Nicolas Flamel is, that's all," said Hermione.**

**"Unless you'd like to tell us and save us the trouble?" Harry added. "We must've been through hundreds of books already and we can't find him anywhere — just give us a hint — I know I've read his name somewhere."**

**"I'm sayin' nothin', said Hagrid flatly.**

**"Just have to find out for ourselves, then," said Ron, and they left Hagrid looking disgruntled and hurried off to the library.**

**They had indeed been searching books for Flamel's name ever since Hagrid had let it slip, because how else were they going to find out what Snape was trying to steal? The trouble was, it was very hard to know where to begin, not knowing what Flamel might have done to get himself into a book. **

"Well, he was an alchemist." Linda said. "Maybe they should look in an ancient history book."

**He wasn't in Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, or Notable Magical Names of Our Time; he was missing, too, from Important Modern Magical Discoveries, and A Study of Recent Developments in Wizardry. **

"Again, he lived over six hundred years ago. So he wouldn't be in anything RECENT or MODERN."

**And then, of course, there was the sheer size of the library; tens of thousands of books; thousands of shelves; hundreds of narrow rows.**

Linda practically salivated at the thought of all those books.

Blu smiled at the look on his human's face. He knew that look.

**Hermione took out a list of subjects and titles she had decided to search while Ron strode off down a row of books and started pulling them off the shelves at random. **

**Harry wandered over to the Restricted Section. He had been wondering for a while if Flamel wasn't somewhere in there. Unfortunately, you needed a specially signed note from one of the teachers to look in any of the restricted books, and he knew he'd never get one. These were the books containing powerful Dark Magic never taught at Hogwarts, and only read by older students studying advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.**

"Why have books on Dark Magic in the first place?" Fernando asked.

"_To understand the Dark Arts, one must study them." _Blu read from the zipped down note.

**"What are you looking for, boy?"**

**"Nothing," said Harry.**

**Madam Pince the librarian brandished a feather duster at him.**

**"You'd better get out, then. Go on — out!"**

**Wishing he'd been a bit quicker at thinking up some story, Harry left the library. He, Ron, and Hermione had already agreed they'd better not ask Madam Pince where they could find Flamel. They were sure she'd be able to tell them, but they couldn't risk Snape hearing what they were up to.**

**Harry waited outside in the corridor to see if the other two had found anything, but he wasn't very hopeful. They had been looking for two weeks, after all, but as they only had odd moments between lessons it wasn't surprising they'd found nothing. What they really needed was a nice long search without Madam Pince breathing down their necks.**

"How is anyone supposed to study without her breathing down their necks?" Fernando asked.

**Five minutes later, Ron and Hermione joined him, shaking their heads. They went off to lunch.**

**"You will keep looking while I'm away, won't you?" said Hermione. "And send me an owl if you find anything."**

**"And you could ask your parents if they know who Flamel is," said Ron. "It'd be safe to ask them."**

**Lily laughed. "Yes, since you're a muggleborn."**

**"Very safe, as they're both dentists," said Hermione.**

"There's several fantasy books that have Nicholas Flamel as a character but he was also a historical figure." Linda said.

**Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. **

**They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork — bread, English muffins, marshmallows — and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work.**

"Nice." Nico said with a chuckle.

**Ron also started teaching Harry wizard chess. This was exactly like Muggle chess except that the figures were alive, which made it a lot like directing troops in battle.**

"That's a lot of fun." Fernando said eagerly. "And the pieces repair themselves afterward."

"How do you know?" Rafael asked.

"Harry sent me a set for Christmas one year."

**Ron's set was very old and battered. Like everything else he owned, it had once belonged to someone else in his family — in this case, his grandfather. However, old chessmen weren't a drawback at all. Ron knew them so well he never had trouble getting them to do what he wanted.**

**Harry played with chessmen Seamus Finnigan had lent him, and they didn't trust him at all. He wasn't a very good player yet and they kept shouting different bits of advice at him, which was confusing. "Don't send me there, can't you see his knight? Send him, we can afford to lose him."**

"That does get annoying." Fernando frowned. He was just getting good enough to have his pieces trust him but some still gave him suggestions. And he'd had his for five years.

**On Christmas Eve, Harry went to bed looking forward to the next day for the food and the fun. Especially since Peeves the Poltergeist had taken to teaching the suits of armor rather rude versions of Christmas Carols. His favorite so far was "The Restroom Door said Gentlemen." **

Linda snickered.

**When he woke early in the morning, however, the first thing he saw was a small pile of packages at the foot of his bed.**

**"Happy Christmas," said Ron sleepily as Harry scrambled out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe.**

**Harry picked up the top parcel of his gifts. It was wrapped in thick brown paper and scrawled across it was To Harry, from Hagrid. Inside was a roughly cut wooden flute. Hagrid had obviously whittled it himself. Harry blew it — it sounded a bit like an owl.**

**Fernando had sent him a brand new football with a note to teach the wizards a new game for a change. Linda and Tulio had sent him a blank photo album to keep all his school memories in. "Who sent these?" Harry asked holding up a lumpy package with a wrapped box on top of it. **

**"I think I know who that one's from," said Ron, turning a bit pink and pointing to a very lumpy parcel. "My mom. I told her you didn't expect any presents and — oh, no," he groaned, "she's made you a Weasley sweater."**

**Harry had torn open the parcel to find a thick, hand-knitted sweater in emerald green and a large box of homemade fudge.**

"Mmm, fudge." Fernando had a chocolate obsession.

**"Every year she makes us a sweater," said Ron, unwrapping his own, "and mine's always maroon."**

**"That's really nice of her," said Harry, trying the fudge, which was very tasty.**

Eva smacked Fernando upside the head with her wing as he was starting to salivate.

**His next present also contained candy — a large box of Chocolate Frogs from Hermione.**

**This only left one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it.**

**Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. **

**Ron gasped.**

**"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. **

"What?" Tulio asked. "Every Flavor Beans?"

A box of said candy was sent down. Tulio opened it immediately because Jelly Beans where his favorite. Hoping to get a watermelon, instead he got..."Pralines?" He asked curiously.

"_Be careful, when they say Every Flavor, they MEAN Every Flavor." _Blu read the note that came along with the candy. Tulio tried another. And coughed. "Chili Peppers!" He downed five glasses of water from a magically refilling jug on the table. He put them down carefully.

**"If that's what I think it is — they're really rare, and really valuable."**

**"What is it?"**

"Yeah, what is it?" Fernando asked eagerly.

**Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.**

**"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is — try it on."**

"Invisibility Cloak?" Linda asked skeptically.

**Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell.**

**"It is! Look down!"**

**Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible.**

"Wow. How come all the cool stuff happens to Harry?" Fernando pouted. He yelped as another Shocking Hex was sent down to him.

**He pulled the cloak over his head and his reflection vanished completely.**

**"There's a note!" said Ron suddenly. "A note fell out of it!"**

**Harry pulled off the cloak and seized the letter. Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words:**

**Your father left this in my possession before he died.**

**It is time it was returned to you.**

**Use it well.**

**A Very Happy Christmas to you.**

"It was his father's?" Blu asked. "Wow."

**There was no signature. Harry stared at the note. Ron was admiring the cloak.**

**"I'd give anything for one of these," he said. "Anything. What's the matter?"**

**"Nothing," said Harry. He felt very strange. Who had sent the cloak? Had it really once belonged to his father?**

**Before he could say or think anything else, the dormitory door was flung open and Fred and George Weasley bounded in. Harry stuffed the cloak quickly out of sight. He didn't feel like sharing it with anyone else yet.**

**"Happy Christmas!"**

**"Hey, look — Harry's got a Weasley sweater, too!"**

**Fred and George were wearing blue sweaters, one with a large yellow F on it, the other a G. **

"Who wants to bet their wearing the wrong sweaters?" Linda asked.

"Maybe their wearing the right sweaters to confuse everyone." Tulio suggested.

**"Harry's is better than ours, though," said Fred, holding up Harry's sweater. "She obviously makes more of an effort if you're not family."**

**"Why aren't you wearing yours, Ron?" George demanded. "Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm."**

**"I hate maroon," Ron moaned halfheartedly as he pulled it over his head..**

"Why does she make him that color then?" Linda asked.

**"You haven't got a letter on yours," George observed. "I suppose she thinks you don't forget your name. But we're not stupid — we know we're called Gred and Forge."**

**"What's all this noise?"**

**Percy Weasley stuck his head through the door, looking disapproving. He had clearly gotten halfway through unwrapping his presents as he, too, carried a lumpy sweater over his arm, which Fred seized.**

**"P for prefect! Get it on, Percy, come on, we're all wearing ours, even Harry got one."**

**"I — don't — want —" said Percy thickly, as the twins forced the sweater over his head, knocking his glasses askew.**

**"And you're not sitting with the prefects today, either," said George. "Christmas is a time for family."**

**They frog-marched Percy from the room, his arms pinned to his side by his sweater.**

Fernando snickered.

**Harry had never in all his life had such a Christmas dinner. A hundred fat, roast turkeys; (Which he avoided) mountains of roast and boiled potatoes; platters of chipolatas; tureens of buttered peas, silver boats of thick, rich gravy and cranberry sauce – and stacks of wizard crackers every few feet along the table. **

"Wizard Crackers?" Linda asked with interest. Harry hadn't mentioned those.

One was sent down to them from the vortex. _"Made especially for Linda."_ They could hear older Harry's voice smile.

Linda pulled and it went off like a blasting cannon and engulfed her with blue, sparkling smoke. When she reappeared she was holding two Blue Macaw plushies that looked exactly like Blu and Jewel.

**These fantastic party favors were nothing like the feeble Muggle ones the Dursleys usually bought, with their little plastic toys and their flimsy paper hats inside. Harry pulled a wizard cracker with Fred and it didn't just bang, it went off with a blast like a cannon and engulfed them all in a cloud of blue smoke, while from the inside exploded a rear admiral's hat and several live, white mice. Up at the High Table, Dumbledore had swapped his pointed wizard's hat for a flowered bonnet, and was chuckling merrily at a joke Professor Flitwick had just read him.**

**Flaming Christmas puddings followed the turkey. Percy nearly broke his teeth on a silver sickle embedded in his slice.**

"Ouch." Fernando winced having broken a tooth once during football practice. (Soccer to my American readers)

**Harry watched Hagrid getting redder and redder in the face as he called for more wine, finally kissing Professor McGonagall on the cheek, who, to Harry's amazement, giggled and blushed, her top hat lopsided.**

"Someone's tipsy." Blu chuckled.

"What's tipsy mean?" Jewel asked her mate.

"Its the state humans get in just before being full blown drunk when they drink alcoholic drinks." Blu explained. "Usually their giddy and playful but there are fun drunks and then there are mean drunks."

**When Harry finally left the table, he was laden down with a stack of things out of the crackers, including a pack of nonexplodable, luminous balloons, a Grow-Your-Own-Warts kit, and his own new wizard chess set. The white mice had disappeared and Harry had a nasty feeling they were going to end up as Mrs. Norris's Christmas dinner.**

"A few extra presents." Fernando smiled. "Nice."

"Why would you want to grow warts?" Linda asked with a wrinkled nose.

"Prank maybe?" Tulio suggested.

**Harry and the Weasleys spent a happy afternoon having a furious snowball fight on the grounds. **

**Then, cold, wet, and gasping for breath, they returned to the fire in the Gryffindor common room, where Harry broke in his new chess set by losing spectacularly to Ron. He suspected he wouldn't have lost so badly if Percy hadn't tried to help him so much.**

**After a meal of turkey sandwiches (again he ignored) crumpets, trifle, and Christmas cake, everyone felt too full and sleepy to do much before bed except sit and watch Percy chase Fred and George all over Gryffindor tower because they'd stolen his prefect badge.**

**It had been one of Harry's best Christmas days ever. Yet something had been nagging at the back of his mind all day. Not until he climbed into bed was he free to think about it: the invisibility cloak and whoever had sent it.**

**Ron, full of turkey and cake and with nothing mysterious to bother him, fell asleep almost as soon as he'd drawn the curtains of his four-poster. Harry leaned over the side of his own bed and pulled the cloak out from under it.**

**His father's… this had been his father's. He let the material flow over his hands, smoother than silk, light as air. Use it well, the note had said.**

"Harry, no sneaking around." Jewel scolded her son.

**He had to try it, now. He slipped out of bed and wrapped the cloak around himself. Looking down at his legs, he saw only moonlight and shadows. It was a very funny feeling.**

**Use it well.**

**Suddenly, Harry felt wide-awake. The whole of Hogwarts was open to him in this cloak. Excitement flooded through him as he stood there in the dark and silence. He could go anywhere in this, anywhere, and Filch would never know.**

"If you where young enough I'd still give you a whipping!" Jewel called up to the vortex and they heard older Harry shudder.

**Ron grunted in his sleep. Should Harry wake him? Something held him back — his father's cloak — he felt that this time — the first time — he wanted to use it alone.**

**He crept out of the dormitory, down the stairs, across the common room, and climbed through the portrait hole.**

**"Who's there?" squawked the Fat Lady. Harry said nothing. He walked quickly down the corridor.**

**Where should he go? He stopped, his heart racing, and thought. And then it came to him. The Restricted Section in the library. **

**He'd be able to read as long as he liked, as long as it took to find out who Flamel was. **

**He set off, drawing the invisibility cloak tight around him as he walked.**

**The library was pitch-black and very eerie. Harry lit a lamp to see his way along the rows of books. The lamp looked as if it was floating along in midair, and even though Harry could feel his arm supporting it, the sight gave him the creeps.**

"That would look odd." Pedro said.

**The Restricted Section was right at the back of the library. Stepping carefully over the rope that separated these books from the rest of the library, he held up his lamp to read the titles.**

**They didn't tell him much. Their peeling faded gold letters spelled words in languages Harry couldn't understand. Some had no title at all. One book had a dark stain on it that looked horribly like blood. **

Linda paled at the thought of such books.

**The hairs on the back of Harry's neck prickled. Maybe he was imagining it, maybe not, but he thought a faint whispering was coming from the books, as though they knew someone was there who shouldn't be.**

"Probably did." _Harry_ Said from the vortex.

**He had to start somewhere. Setting the lamp down carefully on the floor, he looked along the bottom shelf for an interesting looking book. A large black and silver volume caught his eye. He pulled it out with difficulty, because it was very heavy, and, balancing it on his knee, let it fall open.**

**A piercing, bloodcurdling shriek split the silence — the book was screaming! Harry snapped it shut, but the shriek went on and on, one high, unbroken, earsplitting note.**

"An alarm possibly?" Tulio suggested. "To weed out those who shouldn't be in the Restricted Section?"

**He stumbled backward and knocked over his lamp, which went out at once. Panicking, he heard footsteps coming down the corridor outside — stuffing the shrieking book back on the shelf, he ran for it. He passed Filch in the doorway; Filch's pale, wild eyes looked straight through him, and Harry slipped under Filch's outstretched arm and streaked off up the corridor, the book's shrieks still ringing in his ears.**

**He came to a sudden halt in front of a tall suit of armor. He had been so busy getting away from the library, he hadn't paid attention to where he was going. Perhaps because it was dark, he didn't recognize where he was at all. There was a suit of armor near the kitchens, he knew, but he must be five floors above there.**

"But there where suits of armor everywhere." _Harry said down from the vortex. _

**"You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody's been in the library Restricted Section."**

**Harry felt the blood drain out of his face. Wherever he was, Filch must know a shortcut, because his soft, greasy voice was getting nearer, and to his horror, it was Snape who replied, "The Restricted Section? Well, they can't be far, we'll catch them."**

**Harry stood rooted to the spot as Filch and Snape came around the corner ahead. They couldn't see him, of course, but it was a narrow corridor and if they came much nearer they'd knock right into him — the cloak didn't stop him from being solid.**

"Good, smart enough to know that much." Nico said.

**He backed away as quietly as he could. A door stood ajar to his left. It was his only hope. He squeezed through it, holding his breath, trying not to move it, and to his relief he managed to get inside the room without their noticing anything. They walked straight past, and Harry leaned against the wall, breathing deeply, listening to their footsteps dying away. That had been close, very close. It was a few seconds before he noticed anything about the room he had hidden in.**

**It looked like an unused classroom. The dark shapes of desks and chairs were piled against the walls, and there was an upturned wastepaper basket – but propped against the wall facing him was something that didn't look as if it belonged there, something that looked as if someone had just put it there to keep it out of the way.**

**It was a magnificent mirror, as high as the ceiling, with an ornate gold frame, standing on two clawed feet. There was an inscription carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi. **

"I show not your face but your hearts desire." Linda translated for everyone. "Its the mirror reflected sentence." She elaborated.

"I wonder what Harry's hearts desire is." Nico wondered. The lil' guy seemed happy.

**His panic fading now that there was no sound of Filch and Snape, Harry moved nearer to the mirror, wanting to look at himself but see no reflection again. **

**He stepped in front of it.**

**He had to clap his hands to his mouth to stop himself from screaming. He whirled around. His heart was pounding far more furiously than when the book had screamed — for he had seen not only himself in the mirror, but a whole crowd of people standing right behind him.**

"What?" Linda asked in a confused tone.

**But the room was empty. Breathing very fast, he turned slowly back to the mirror.**

**There he was, reflected in it, white and scared-looking, and there, reflected behind him, were at least ten others. Harry looked over his shoulder — but still, no one was there. Or were they all invisible, too? Was he in fact in a room full of invisible people and this mirror's trick was that it reflected them, invisible or not?**

"Very odd."

**He looked in the mirror again. A woman standing right behind his reflection was smiling at him and waving. **

**He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him. If she was really there, he'd touch her, their reflections were so close together, but he felt only air – she and the others existed only in the mirror.**

**She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes **

"Oh Harry." Jewel said sadly. Her son had eagerly shown her pictures of his human parents in that photo album.

—**her eyes are just like mine, Harry thought, edging a little closer to the glass. Bright green — exactly the same shape, but then he noticed that she was crying; smiling, but crying at the same time. The tall, thin, black-haired man standing next to her put his arm around her. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Harry's did.**

"Oh." Blu said in understanding.

**Harry was so close to the mirror now that his nose was nearly touching that of his reflection.**

**"Mom?" he whispered. "Dad?"**

Eva sniffled. Harry was such a sweet child. Her kids loved it when he babysat them.

**They just looked at him, smiling. And slowly, Harry looked into the faces of the other people in the mirror, and saw other pairs of green eyes like his, other noses like his, even a little old man who looked as though he had Harry's knobbly knees — Harry was looking at his family, for the first time in his life.**

**The Potters smiled and waved at Harry and he stared hungrily back at them, his hands pressed flat against the glass as though he was hoping to fall right through it and reach them. He had a powerful kind of ache inside him, half joy, half terrible sadness.**

:"I don't like this mirror." Jewel said suddenly. "It doesn't seem like a good thing."

**How long he stood there, he didn't know. The reflections did not fade and he looked and looked until a distant noise brought him back to his senses. He couldn't stay here, he had to find his way back to bed. He tore his eyes away from his mother's face, whispered, "I'll come back," and hurried from the room.**

**"You could have woken me up," said Ron, crossly.**

**"You can come tonight, I'm going back, I want to show you the mirror."**

**"I'd like to see your mom and dad," Ron said eagerly.**

"You have." Linda said as Ron and Hermione had come to Rio for Carnaval several times.

**"And I want to see all your family, all the Weasleys, you'll be able to show me your other brothers and everyone."**

**"You can see them any old time," said Ron. "Just come round my house this summer. Anyway, maybe it only shows dead people. Shame about not finding Flamel, though. Have some bacon or something, why aren't you eating anything?"**

"I really don't like this." Jewel said in a worried tone hugging Young Harry closer to her.

**Harry couldn't eat. He had seen his parents and would be seeing them again tonight. He had almost forgotten about Flamel. It didn't seem very important anymore. Who cared what the three headed dog was guarding? What did it matter if Snape stole it, really?**

**"Are you all right?" said Ron. "You look odd."**

**What Harry feared most was that he might not be able to find the mirror room again. With Ron covered in the cloak, too, they had to walk much more slowly the next night. They tried retracing Harry's route from the library, wandering around the dark passageways for nearly an hour.**

**"I'm freezing," said Ron. "Let's forget it and go back."**

**"No!" Harry hissed. "I know it's here somewhere."**

"He's obsessed." Fernando said worriedly knowing how Harry was with obsessions.

**They passed the ghost of a tall witch gliding in the opposite direction, but saw no one else. just as Ron started moaning that his feet were dead with cold, Harry spotted the suit of armor.**

**"It's here — just here — yes!"**

**They pushed the door open. Harry dropped the cloak from around his shoulders and ran to the mirror.**

**There they were. His mother and father beamed at the sight of him.**

**"See?" Harry whispered.**

**"I can't see anything."**

**"Look! Look at them all… there are loads of them…"**

**"I can only see you."**

**"Look in it properly, go on, stand where I am."**

"It won't work. Ron will only see what he want's most." Linda said.

**Harry stepped aside, but with Ron in front of the mirror, he couldn't see his family anymore, just Ron in his paisley pajamas. Ron, though, was staring transfixed at his image.**

**"Look at me!" he said.**

**"Can you see all your family standing around you?"**

**"No — I'm alone — but I'm different — I look older — and I'm head boy!"**

"What?" Blu asked in confusion.

**"What?"**

**"I am — I'm wearing the badge like Bill used to — and I'm holding the house cup and the Quidditch cup — I'm Quidditch captain, too."**

**Ron tore his eyes away from this splendid sight to look excitedly at Harry.**

**"Do you think this mirror shows the future?"**

**"How can it? All my family are dead — let me have another look —"**

**"You had it to yourself all last night, give me a bit more time."**

"Not good." Tulio said knowing what good friends Harry and Ron where.

**"You're only holding the Quidditch cup, what's interesting about that? I want to see my parents."**

**"Don't push me —"**

**A sudden noise outside in the corridor put an end to their discussion.**

**They hadn't realized how loudly they had been talking.**

**"Quick!"**

**Ron threw the cloak back over them as the luminous eyes of Mrs. Norris came round the door. Ron and Harry stood quite still, both thinking the same thing — did the cloak work on cats?**

"Probably, but she might smell you." Linda said. 

**After what seemed an age, she turned and left.**

**"This isn't safe — she might have gone for Filch, I bet she heard us. Come on."And Ron pulled Harry out of the room.**

**The snow still hadn't melted the next morning.**

**"Want to play chess, Harry?" said Ron.**

**"No."**

**"Why don't we go down and visit Hagrid?"**

**"No… you go…"**

**"I know what you're thinking about, Harry, that mirror. Don't go back tonight."**

**"Why not?"**

**"I dunno, I've just got a bad feeling about it — and anyway, you've had too many close shaves already. Filch, Snape, and Mrs. Norris are wandering around. So what if they can't see you? What if they walk into you? What if you knock something over?"**

"At least one of them has sense. But why isn't Ron pining for it?" Fernando asked.

"Maybe he's daydreamed of his vision so much that it didn't ensnare him like it did Harry?" Tulio supplied.

**"You sound like Hermione."**

**"I'm taking that as a compliment, Harry James Potter." Hermione said, sounding slightly annoyed. Harry flashed her a sheepish grin.**

**"I'm serious, Harry, don't go."**

**But Harry only had one thought in his head, which was to get back in front of the mirror, and Ron wasn't going to stop him.**

**That third night he found his way more quickly than before. He was walking so fast he knew he was making more noise than was wise, but he didn't meet anyone.**

**And there were his mother and father smiling at him again, and one of his grandfathers nodding happily. Harry sank down to sit on the floor in front of the mirror. There was nothing to stop him from staying here all night with his family. Nothing at all.**

Jewel head tears in her eyes threatening to fall.

**Except —**

**"So — back again, Harry?"**

**Harry felt as though his insides had turned to ice. He looked behind him. Sitting on one of the desks by the wall was none other than Albus Dumbledore. Harry must have walked straight past him, so desperate to get to the mirror he hadn't noticed him.**

"What's the Headmaster doing there?"

**"I — I didn't see you, sir."**

**"Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore, and Harry was relieved to see that he was smiling.**

**"So," said Dumbledore, slipping off the desk to sit on the floor with Harry, "you, like hundreds before you, have discovered the delights of the Mirror of Erised."**

"I wouldn't exactly call it delights." Nico frowned.

**"I didn't know it was called that, Sir."**

**"But I expect you've realized by now what it does?"**

**"It — well — it shows me my family —"**

**"And it showed your friend Ron himself as head boy."**

**"How did you know —?"**

**"I don't need a cloak to become invisible," said Dumbledore gently. "Now, can you think what the Mirror of Erised shows us all?"**

**Harry shook his head.**

**"Let me explain. The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is. Does that help?"**

"Your Hearts Desire." Blu said understanding finally what the mirror did.

**Harry thought. Then he said slowly, "It shows us what we want… whatever we want…"**

**"Yes and no," said Dumbledore quietly. "It shows us nothing more or less than the deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them. **

"Wow. That sucks." Fernando said with a frown. The ginger kid always semmed a tad insecure about himself.

**"However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.**

"Obsessions can be dangerous." _Harry_ said down from the vortex.

**"The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that. Now, why don't you put that admirable cloak back on and get off to bed?"**

**Harry stood up.**

**"Sir — Professor Dumbledore? Can I ask you something?"**

**"Obviously, you've just done so," Dumbledore smiled. "You may ask me one more thing, however."**

**"What do you see when you look in the mirror?"**

:"That's a bit personal chico." Rafael said.

**"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."**

"Socks?"

**Harry stared.**

**"One can never have enough socks," said Dumbledore. "Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn't get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books."**

**It was only when he was back in bed that it struck Harry that Dumbledore might not have been quite truthful. But then, he thought, as he shoved Scabbers off his pillow, it had been quite a personal question.**

The book flipped its pages magically to the last chapter. "Chapter 17: The Man With Two Faces." Tulio read as he took the book from Linda.

**To Be Continued..**

**Review Review Reivew!**

**Dean the Cuddly Fox**


End file.
